Education Through Gaming: Descartes Cove

Not often do my blog posts garner the attention that my most recent “Minecraft in the Classroom” did last week. Man, you people are seriously seeking video game justification! It reminded me again how much we as a community – parents, teachers, students – are looking for ways to improve our learning experience by taking advantage of all the new and exciting technology at our fingertips. And perhaps you, like I, want to make sure that we keep these tools in balance, choosing only the highest quality resources, and stowing our laptops next to our paints and brushes, binoculars and bird books.

Though the kids’ Minecraft history timelines are coming along nicely, it will be a while until I can share their work with you. Minecraft is not the only educational video game we use, however. This week, I’ll share a couple of other little gems we’ve fallen in love with. Consider if you will….

Subject: Math

Intended audience: grades 6-8

Fun level: 8/10

Challenge Level: Excellent, though we haven’t played all the modules yet

Physical Interaction Potential: Medium. Problems are provided on the game, and players solve them using paper, a white board, etc., before selecting the answer.

Price: $155, with shipping. Special rates for schools.

After hearing rave reviews of this Myst-type math game developed in 2006 by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth, I ordered it for our public library’s children’s collection. Here’s the description, taken from the website:

“Marooned on a desert island once inhabited by Rene Descartes, students discover his notebook and gear and begin their journey through the island’s tunnels, volcanoes, abandoned mines, and sunken ship. At each step, they solve increasingly difficult puzzles and math challenges that follow NCTM standards. As they master each math concept, they prepare to tackle the final quest to build a means to escape from the island.”

Upon arrival last summer, I immediately checked the game out, eager to try it on my kids and share my recommendations with other patrons. It’s intended for grades 6-8, and we quickly discovered that it was too easy for rising 9th grader Ian and too difficult for rising 6th grader Eva. However, the beautiful graphics are true to the game’s promises of Myst-style quality and appearance. The kiddos were so disappointed that it was just out of their reach.

I returned the game, and Eva and I carried on with our 6th grade math studies, moving into beginning algebra and geometry over the winter. On a whim, I checked the game out again last week, and this time, Eva was ready. You can choose six different math quests, selecting from measurement, number and operations, data analysis and probability, algebra, geometry, and reasoning and proof. Eva chose data analysis and probability. The player is equipped with a backpack for the journey that holds a notebook of handy explanations of the basic concepts you’re studying. The game’s concept is really very simple: solve 10 problems and move on through the locked door just ahead. In solving the problems, you also earn pieces of something you need to build to move on to the next grand level. Use the notebook in your backpack if you need a little help.

Ultimately, I suppose you could cheat your way through the game: the problems are set up as multiple choice. If you get the wrong answer, you can just keep trying other selections until you get the right one. There doesn’t seem to be any penalty for this. It’s all a matter of approach, however. Although I don’t watch everything that Eva does, I sit nearby to help with problems she’s stuck on. She sits by our huge white board, and I can see her working out the problems before she punches in the answer. Sometimes she does get them wrong completely, but she talks to me about it, and then explains why the solution is what it is. I have her work on it approximately a half hour a day, and she loves it so much better than worksheets and textbooks, she’s happy to do it. She knows that talking with me about the problems is part of the deal, so I am assured that real learning is happening.

All in all, I give this game an A+. Still need convincing? Watch this demo. Have fun!

Comments

Decartes Cove is a great game to reinforce as opposed to teaching new skills, but it is fun and moves ahead quickly enough to keep players engaged. Other oldie, but goody math games for this level are “The Hidden Treasure of Al-Jabr” for algebraic thinking, and “The Factory Deluxe” for logic/geometry/problem-solving.

My kids would work for hours on these types of “games,” which gave them a solid mathematical base. I know they would never have have spent the same amount of time on textbooks or worksheets. Unfortunately, it seems like the “golden age” of truly educational games was 10 to 15 years ago. I keep a Windows 95 computer just to run them 🙂

Thanks for the other titles Sue! And though I agree there were a lot of great educational games 10 years ago or so, I think we’re simply entering a new stage – one in which I’m still exploring. Minecraft is a great example. Instead of being game-directed like Descartes Cove, with which you can only do what they lay out for you to do, now we’re seeing more open ended games, where the player has more control over how to use it. I am convinced that one can waste one’s life away on games like Minecraft, but with some strategic planning and engagement in teacher/player creativity, games like Minecraft can offer so much more than even our beloved games of the 90s.

I think there’s room for both types, really. Minecraft may not give you the problem set of Descartes Cove, but it can provide opportunities to explore physics and history and art, all in one. There is untapped potential here. But to be honest, I will always prefer real-life physical interaction – poster board and pens, legos and electronics to virtual renditions. It’s all about balance.

Ha! My comment was just meant to be funny. Though there were no comments, the post was shared on facebook almost 200 times – my personal best. I don’t mean to make light of the use of video gaming at all as it relates to education, as I hope was clear in both of these posts. My own kids and I tease each other about this all the time. I was only struck by the spike in interest of that particular post, which as I’m noticing now was probably just as much about Minecraft in particular as it was about educational video gaming in general.

Yes, something about cows defying the laws of reproduction and sheep being modified genetically (obviously, right?) so that they grow wool in the colours you dyed them seems to really appeal. I think its the creativity of free mode though that appeals (from my glimpses of what my husband is furtively doing on the screen). Doing history and geology would have excited some Minecrafters out there. There’s quite a lot of discussion about it in homeschooling circles as a socialising opportunity (they do it on the same server or something – not too clear as my kids are not of that age-group and I didn’t follow closely). I’m also thinking of the storytelling potential, reminds me a lot of those stories I used to make up, scene by scene, photo by photo in The Sims (pre-kids of course, I now have real-live people to send to the toilet and feed). But yes, there are many passionate discussions on video gaming justification, I think the thing I took out of the last discussion on the topic I participated in was that some people have a greater propensity towards addiction to video games (and other media), so parents of those may want to have more strict restrictions in place. Most of the people I know seem to fall into that category!

You’ve nailed it on the head, Cy. Like all tech, it has such great potential for growth, connection, and learning as well as the potential to take over and encourage unhealthy addiction. Our household has pretty strict rules when it comes to gaming, and we’ve never owned any gaming devices besides our personal computers. And yet I do see the good in them too, and adhere to the motto “everything in moderation, including moderation.”

We’re trying now to figure out how to keep social media in balance (another potential power-house of positivity that could be overused if we’re not careful). We haven’t figured it out yet, and having kids entering that world are causing my husband and me to have to reconsider the examples we set. Such uncharted territory!